


Loreley

by Teawithmagician



Category: Robin Hood (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Drama & Romance, F/M, Love Triangles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-14 12:54:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14770022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teawithmagician/pseuds/Teawithmagician
Summary: And the winds would cry, and many men would die, and all the waves would bow down to the Loreley.





	Loreley

**Author's Note:**

> AU - Isabelle knows Godfrey before she knows John, power!AU where Isabelle wants to become a queen by any means (her determination is shown in the movie in a few crucial scenes), free timeline, Isabelle is CLEARLY an adult despite the historical evidence.

The moon looks drowsy in the pond, lilies tilt their heads to the water as Isabelle tilts her head to his shoulder. His shoulder is firm, his hair is dark, so are his looks, but his eyes are green like Adriatic waters she used to slide on the galley. 

“You will marry him,” he says, caressing her fingers. 

“There is a little challenge of being a Countess if you can be more than that,” she answers quietly. The night is young, the moon is full, there's a sound of the lute in the distance behind the garden wall.

“So, this is all about the kingdom,” his fingers slow down on her hand. She looks into the reflection on the surface of the pond. The moon is like a silver halo, her head is right behind it, so is his head, verging on hers. Chain-mail is cold, there is a ring on his finger, the ring of the prince's envoy. “He is not a king yet.”

“Richard is old. Forty, and no heir. He is always away, on war. Once he rests in peace, there will be only one heir.”

She can speak the language, yet she doesn't like it much. It seems plain, it seems simple, it rolls in her mouth like a rock, while her language is a pearl she plays with her tongue. He plays with his tongue well, too, when she thinks of it she holds back a smile. 

“That's a pity you can't be mine,” he says after a little pause, enough to gain back the words he never lacks. “That's a pity you are someone's else.”

“I couldn't be yours even if all of this never happened. I am either de Lousignan, or... your queen.” 

“Yes. My queen,” he agrees. There's a woman on the balcony, Isabelle wants to step aside, to hide under the old willow, but he holds her shoulders, the knight who shouldn't be there.

“She could have seen us,” she hisses. He answers softly into her ear, the diamond earring is swinging on the edge of her earlobe, “No, she couldn't. You know, my lady, he told me to take you away tonight. To deliver you to him.”

“So you are stealing me tonight, don't you?”

The thought makes her smile, though she doesn't want to, she wants to remain calm and distant to show him his place. But how distant can she be from him if he is holding her hand, and his chain-mail is warm with the warmth of her skin?

“Yes, my liege,” he gives her smile back, it's slow and runs like dark honey, sweet even though she can't reach it. John and he have more similarity in manner and appearance than John and Richard himself. 

“Then,” she lingers but for a moment, and moves towards him, clenching his fingers, “steal me, brave knight.”

“I will,” he presses her fingers to his lips. She starts, hasty to take her hand away from his mouth.

“Before I do that,” he says quietly, “tell me, my liege lady, do you... Do you desire John more than you desired me?”

She looks at him amazedly, words are scattered just like her thoughts. He makes a little smile and she wants to believe it all was all a joke, but when she makes a step, he makes one more, standing in her way. He towers over her, his face drowns in the darkness, she can't see his eyes – she never believes he does it by chance.

“It's all decided,” she says. 

“Nothing is decided while our lives are in the hands of...”

“Devil?” she suggests, he makes a little laugh, “Lord.”

“You are more like a Devil himself if you are asking me such things while being here for your prince,” her voice is full of contempt. “Serve him aright, and release me of your cunning words.”

“You are now leaving your fiance for your lover, my lady. But who am I to remind you of virtue.”

He finally moves from the shadow so the pale moonlight illuminates his face with its deadly light. He is all steel, the steel is in his sword, the steel is in his chain-mail, the steel is in his look. He stands like a ghost of war, a courteous lover she knew even before she knew his brother fell in love with her, but Isabelle is not afraid. 

His eyes are driven to her, he is waiting for the words to come forth. She feels hurt by the desire she cannot cease.

“*Je ne veux pas etre une comptesse,” the words come from her heart more than from her mouth. “Je veux etre reine.”

“There's nothing you wouldn't do for a kingdom,” he twitches his lips, and she throws into his face like a gauntlet, “Is there anything you wouldn't do for a kingdom if you knew it would be yours?”

 

_______________________________

*”I don't want to be a Countess. I want to be a queen.”


End file.
